Merlin's Downfall
by luna sage
Summary: Arthur has left his chambers to go training, and has given Merlin a pile of chores to do. Events take place during practice. What will he find when he arrive back in his chambers?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Thank you to all of you who wanted to read this :). this is my first fanfic I have written and I started it a year ago but had no inspiration to carry on with it until today. I have only just started on the second chapter and that will only be uploaded once its done and if I feel like people enjoyed this chapter :).**

**I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, and would love to read any reviews (especially if they have some constructive criticism. I need all the help i can get :P)**

**Anyway hope you enjoy the story.**

**Chapter 1: **

It was the usual calm, sunny day, cleaning his masters chambers, Merlin was wandering how his Kings training was going – whilst smiling at the thought that, maybe his head would be getting pounded by Gwaine again – when he suddenly heard a small rustle, in the room. He stopped what he was doing, looked around the room and, after finding nothing, carried on with his duties, believing that it was the rat – that had seemed to be eating all of Arthur's clothes – and decided to ignore the noise.

He had started to sort through some of Arthur's "ready to wash" clothes - which smelled as if they hadn't been cleaned for a couple of centuries - when he suddenly heard a loud 'clank' coming from one of the windows that had been left slightly ajar, to let some fresh air, into the stale chamber. As he took each step, hesitantly towards the sun filled window, he reached out a small, shaking, sweating hand. As he reached to pull back the fine, silk drapes, hanging at the window, a large gust of wind, shouted out from nowhere – making the servant jump, almost out of his skin – and blew the drape, revealing nothing but the stone wall behind it.

He looked around the window a few moments more, before deciding that there really wasn't anything there, for him to be afraid of, and the worst that could happen is Arthur suddenly walking in the room shouting about his room not being finished. As he turned to go back to his duties, a man draped in black cloths, was standing too close for comfort in front of him. Just as Merlin was about to shout "what are you doing in the Kings chambers!" the man had run, leaving no traces of him ever being there.

Merlin was about to run after the intruder, when he realised he couldn't! No matter how many times he tried to move, it didn't work. He wasn't scared, he knew that much, so why wasn't he able to move? He started to realize, that his breath was becoming ragged and when he tried to speak, his words where hoarse. He stood a moment longer, wandering what was going on. Suddenly a wind was blowing, on his back and the room had started to become distant, slowly spinning and moving away from him. He felt a large thump on his back and the icy coldness of the stone floor – which, in Merlin's eyes, had apparently come out from nowhere, and attacked him – slowly made its way to Merlin's skin, sending shivers down his spin.

Moments later, he began to feel a warm, almost sticky liquid, seeping through his rough blue shirt. He wasn't sure what it was. Perhaps Arthur had walked in, seen Merlin lying on the ground – probably believing him to be taking a nap, or something – and poured some water over him, to get him up. But Merlin couldn't see Arthur anywhere, and why would the water be warm? He tried to look around the room, for some sort of explanation, and noticed his vision had become blurred, becoming more so by the second it seemed.

He started to feel an overwhelming sensation of pain – seeming to come from all over his body, making it difficult to pinpoint the source- and he started to feel as if he was falling – again – into a deep, dark, cold chasm. Merlin tried to scream out, in agony, but not a sound emerged from his lips. Even his breathe seamed to have locked away, unable to pass his throat. Slowly and silently he fell into an unconscious slumber, the last thing he heard before fading, was muffled yells of a familiar voice, and then silence.

)o(

Arthur had been out training all morning, and had left Merlin with a hefty list of chores. A big grin spread across his face, at the face Merlin had made as today's chores were given to him, whilst sparring against the knights – all with very confused looks on their faces, wondering why their King was in an abnormally good mood – This made Gwaine sneak up on Arthur. When Gwaine had decided, it was time for his King to come back to earth, he whispered in Arthur's ear. This made Arthur almost jump, right into the middle of the training grounds, as some of the other 'newbie's' – as Gwaine liked to call them – were testing out their swordsman skills.

As Arthur tried to regain some of his composure, he shouted at Gwaine, "What is wrong with you!" He then looked around, to see some of the other knights turn, at this outburst. He then lowered his voice and asked again "What is wrong, Sir Gwaine? Did you really have to do that?"

Gwaine – almost in hysterics at the King's sudden change in tone – replied with "What's got you so high I the sky today, S.I.R.E?" He had decided to pronounce every letter, just to see the reaction Arthur let out. By this time Lancelot, Elyan, and Percival had all joined them, to see what the fuss was all about.

"I was just remembering the amusing face, Merlin was making when I had given him his list of chores to do today. Priceless" the King stifled a laugh as he said it. This just made the knights look at him and, to his dismay; all called him "Prat" in the same joking tone Merlin would be using in this situation.

At that Arthur turned and left, making to head back to his room and get changed.

)o(

By the time Arthur had reached his doors it was past lunch – the council had called him into the great hall for a meeting, which had felt like it had taken several hours to get through – and he was starving.

He had been thinking about what he would be having for his lunch, almost drooling, when he heard noise coming from inside his chambers, snapping him out of his meaty daydream.

Upon opening the door, he realised one of the voices was Gwen's – believing that the one she was talking too was Merlin, he decided to pay her no mind – and saw her with her back to the door.

When she heard the creaking of the opening door, Gwen practically jumped out of her skin. Arthur stifled a laugh before seeing tears streaming down her face, and a worried expression in her eyes.

"Do not come in Sire!" the other voice sounding behind Gwen said. At this Arthur realised it was Gaius, wondering why Gaius was in his room, Arthur walked in. He saw Gaius bet over a figure on the floor, an was just about to ask who the collapsed person was, when he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder pulling him out.

It was Gwen, slowly leading Arthur out of his own room. A terrible feeling at the pit of his stomach, started to rise as realisation dawned upon him. He turned to Gwen – who had practically broken down, by this point – and put his hands on her arms, trying to comfort her, whilst trying to find some answers to his many questions.

Arthur opened and closed his mouth several times, trying to form some kind of a sentence, but was unsuccessful at managing one word, let alone a whole sentence.

He finally managed in getting two words past his dry throat, "What happened?"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hello again, I have finished the second chapter yay XD. It took me a while but since I had lots of people follow me and ask for more chapters here it is :). I had lots of fun writing this and every sentence gave me more ideas for more chapters so hopefully I will start getting on with chapter 3 and get it ready to upload soon.**

**All your reviews have been really encouraging and have helped me a lot so I hope you will continue to write them.**

**Thanks for reading this. I will shut up now and let you get on :).**

**Chapter 2:**

After a few minutes, Arthur finally got Gwen to calm down just enough to ask the few questions he could think of. "What happened? Why where you in my chambers? What on earth is going on? And where the bloody hell is Merlin?"

Arthur mind drifted off thinking about where Merlin was. After a few moments he had started to believe that his useless manservant was most likely in the tavern, probably getting drunk with Gwaine again.

At this sudden outburst of questions, Gwen lost control and started to bawl once more into Arthur's shoulder, mumbling about a random attack, someone being injured and the culprit still being at large.

Once again Arthur was trying to calm Gwen down and get some more straight answers. "Tell me everything, from the beginning and take your time. I wont rush you Guinevere." Arthur said in his calmest and steadiest voice.

So she did. She told him how she had gone to his chambers to talk to Merlin, and give him the latest castle gossip. She then said about how a suspicious man suddenly jumped out from Arthur's rooms and pushed past her, dropping something as he ran. And then of how she saw it was a bloodied blade that he had dropped.

At this point she started to gasp for air, as she was crying again and loosing her breathe, from the fast pace she was trying to explain everything.

After she had calmed down, she continued to explain how at first she thought that Arthur must have been stabbed, and how she rushed towards his rooms almost in a fit of tears worrying about him and threw open the door only to see that he wasn't there. She explained how she started to search high and low for him, and how she went further in and noticed somebody's feet sticking out from behind the bed.

She then told him how she had slowly walked across the room towards the body slowly recognising the boots.

She stopped, "What happened? Who was it?" a confused and stunned Arthur questioned. Gwen just stood there shaking her head. Suddenly he remembered noticing a bit of bright red fabric on the floor behind Gaius.

Slowly Arthur started to hear the unspoken words. "Where's Merlin?" He asked in a harsh quiet tone.

No answer.

"Tell me now Gwen, was it Merlin?" His tone becoming sharper and increasingly deadly by the second. His eyes slowly becoming small slits as he starred daggers at the door to his rooms.

He took a few careful steps towards the door before Gwen grabbed his arm, sobbing and pleading for him to go no further. He ripped his arm out of her grip, only noticing for a second how she flinched away from him.

Not caring about this he carried on into his rooms, only looking back with a warning in his eyes for her not to follow him.

As he quietly entered his rooms he began searching for the old Physician, it wasn't long until he heard the old mans mumbles, though he couldn't make out what he was saying. Slowly he edged towards Gaius trying to hear what he was saying, when he saw the body Gaius was slumped over.

Arthur took a deep breath. "Gaius?" His voice calm and quiet but deep and shaky. He cursed himself for not being able to control his voice.

Gaius suddenly looked up and turned around. "Sire!" Arthur could instantly tell he had startled the old man by the way he shouted and was now breathing heavily.

"I'm sorry Gaius, I didn't mean to startle you. What happened?" He already knew but he wanted conformation from Gaius, and he knew that the Physician would be more direct than Gwen and tell him all he needed to know.

Gaius let out a steady breath. "I am not 100% sure Sire, all I know is what Gwen has told me so far and what I have learnt from studying the area." He paused.

"So what have you figured out?" Arthur was sounded more like a small child who's toy was taken from them, than the King he was.

Gaius looked down for a moment and then looked straight into the Kings eyes. This unnerved Arthur slightly as it felt like Gaius was trying to look into Arthur's soul.

"As you have probably worked out for yourself Merlin was involved." He looked down loosing the ability to look his King in the eyes as he told Arthur what had happened to his ward, the boy that was like a son to him. And just like a son he was supposed to protect him.

Arthur looked at Gaius seeing the battle the old man was having with himself. "Gaius I need to know, will he be alright?" The King in him had completely left him, all that was left was the friend that wanted to protect others.

Gaius looked up for one last moment, before his shoulders slowly started to shake, as tears streamed down his face. He started to mutter to himself. Arthur could only just hear him mumbling but couldn't work out what the words meant. His mind slowly going blank, as all hope was lost to him.


End file.
